Must-have items to take with you while Trick-or-Treating

Costumes? Check. Trick or treat bag? Check.  House keys? Check.  Phone? Check.  You may think you're all ready to go out trick or treating, but consider this: you're going out walking, in the dark, with a group of excited kids who are likely to consume large amounts of candy and get even more hyperactive.  Unless you want the evening to dissolve into tears and tantrums (or an early abandonment of your trick-or-treat plans), you'll want to bring a lot more than that.

This is our 14th year of taking a child trick-or-treating on Halloween night, and over the years, I've amassed a must-have list of items to have with me.  Here's my list of items to pack in your Halloween night purse to make trick-or-treating less stressful and more fun:

Inexpensive ways to store Disney trading pins

We are buzzing with excitement over our upcoming Disneyland trip!  We don't leave for several days yet, but I'm already thinking about all the things we have to pack: the basics like clothes and toiletries, plus all the special Disney items like Mickey ears, lanyards, and trading pins!

What's in my runDisney playlist

Finishing a runDisney 5k, 10k, or half-marathon is a big Must-Do item on my bucket list.  Who wouldn't want to put on a running tutu (note to SELF magazine, tutus aren't lame -- you are) or Disney-inspired outfit and race through a Disney park?  However, at this point in time I just can't justify the cost, so I'm really excited about doing the next-best thing: a special runDisney 2-mile fun run at the Disney Social Media Moms conference.

Naturally, since it's a Disney event, I've made a Disney song playlist to run to!  I've been running to these songs for years (other than Let It Go, which I added in November), but they were always part of other playlists, not in a Disney playlist of their own.  Here are the songs on my Disney playlist:

• Let It Go (Frozen, 3:43)
• Touch The Sky (Brave, 2:31)
• Strangers Like Me (Tarzan, 3:00)
• Son of Man (Tarzan, 2:44)
• I'll Make a Man Out of You (Mulan, 3:21)
• I Just Can't Wait to Be King (Lion King, 2:50)
• Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride (Lilo & Stitch, 3:27)
• Burning Love (Lilo & Stitch, 2:51)
• Pirates of the Caribbean Theme Song (Pirates of the Caribbean, 2:09)

(Note, this playlist only has 9 songs and totals 26.6 minutes, so I'm still looking for 1 last song to bring it to 30 minutes.  Many people like Go The Distance from Hercules (which, at 3:14, brings the playlist to just under 30 minutes), but I'm not a big fan, mainly because the tempo is so slow.  For now, to bring the playlist to just over 30 minutes, I've added the Let It Go Karaoke version).

I love running to these songs because they're all uptempo, heavy on the beat, and high on the energy.  While I'm running, I can pretend I'm running through the African serengeti, the Scottish highlands, the beaches of Hawaii, the Great Wall of China, and all the other amazing locations these movies are set in.  When my energy levels falter, I think of Mulan racing towards the Imperial City, trying to outrun the Huns; I think of Elsa, realizing that she's not just running away from her past, she's running toward her freedom; I think of Merida, running because she's so happy to be free from duty and tradition. If those gals can run, so can I! And just like that, my spirits begin to lift, and I truly feel like I can "Chase the wind and Touch The Sky".

Do you have a Disney running playlist?  What Disney songs do you like to run to?

What's in your smartphone?

Can you believe the Apple iPhone was released in 2007, five whole years ago?  How time flies! In 2007 I had a pink clamshell phone, and I thought it was the coolest, cutest thing ever.  Today, even my kids wouldn't be caught dead with that phone.  Heck, even my 3 year-old niece wouldn't want that phone.  She'd probably throw it away, thinking it was a fake toy phone, and ask for  a real one, with a colored screen that does things when you touch it.

I got my first web-enabled phone (a Samsung Reclaim) in 2009, and my first smartphone in 2010.  I honestly can't imagine life without one anymore!  I've had my current phone (and HTC EVO 4G) for just over a year now; it wasn't the most hi-tech phone when I got it to begin with, and a year later, it's even more outdated. It does feel clunky and sluggish, and I'm ready for a new one.  Unfortunately, I won't be eligible to get a new one (at least not without paying full price for the phone) for another 6 months or so -- but I'm not frothing at the bit, so I'll wait.

What's in your backpack?

I like to travel light, but the 13-lb weight limit for Virgin Atlantic's carry-on bags in economy class really makes things challenging.  I have roll-on bags that weigh almost 10-lb without anything inside!  And with all the electronics (not to mention their chargers) that I like to carry with me, I really had to go with my ultralight version when figuring out what to take along for my flight to the UK.  Here's what I packed with me:

What's in your iPad?

I don't consider myself a material girl, and I didn't get into blogging for the free stuff, but I must admit, I was pretty excited to receive an iPad to test the upcoming Monsterology app (thanks, Nukotoys!).  Coincidentally, it arrived on my birthday, so it made a nice birthday present, and we are now the proud owners of an iPad (yes, two years after it first came out, but better late than never).  The kids wanted download a ton of apps, but I told them I wasn't flooding this iPad with all kinds of junk, so we've been very discriminating about what we download.  We've had the iPad for over a week now, and I just downloaded our 25th app last night!  Here's what we have so far:

What's on your running playlist?

When I got my first iPod and started listening to music while running, I couldn't believe how much more enjoyable running could be. Music truly lifts the spirits and makes the hours and the miles pass much more quickly. But you can only listen to your favorite 100 songs again and again before you end up hating those songs as much as you hate Barney the dinosaur's I Love You song. Rather than banish YMCA from my running playlist forever, I resolved to add at least 10 new songs to my running playlist before my 40th birthday.

To many people, that would be a no-brainer, but as you many have guessed, I am not the most adventurous listener. I stopped listening to the radio in my late teens, so until I started dating Alfie, my musical tastes were stuck in the 80's. Much to Alfie's embarrassment, when we married in 2000, the "new artists" in my cd collection included names like Hall & Oates, Kenny G, Barry Manilow, Duran Duran and Tears for Fears (thank goodness Madonna has reinvented herself time and time again over the years, so at least I did have 1 hip artist on my favorites list). I'd probably still be running to the same hundred songs if it weren't for these five secret sources for discovering new music:

What's in your sock drawer?

Nothing should be so simple, right? The name should say it all! But in the spirit of disorganized clutter, there's always something extra you can stuff into a sock drawer! Aside from the assorted hosiery (socks, tights, stockings) you'd expect to find, here's what's in mine:

What's in your wallet?

.... sorry, no Capital One credit card. But I do manage to squeeze a lot of stuff into my wallet. Technically, it's my purse, but last year I got tired of shlepping around a huge bag for my kids to throw their junk into, so I downsized. My streamlined purse contains just the basics I need to get around (plus a few things I need to get rid of):

What's in your pantry?

People love to post about all the junk that's currently in their wallet, purse, diaper bag, fridge, car trunk, closet, or any other storage space. This morning I checked my cupboard to see what I could whip up for dinner, and found myself wondering if most other families had the same things in their cupboards.

Here's what's in our cupboard today: